


Uncursed

by vampcoffeegyrl23



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 00:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18021029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampcoffeegyrl23/pseuds/vampcoffeegyrl23
Summary: Buffy receives an unexpected surprise and leaves town in order to keep her sister and friends safe. Almost a year later Angel and his crew run into her. She needs help . . . but is it too late? What was the surprise and why is Buffy so weak?Begins in Buffy season 6 and Angel season 3, though most of the story takes place in L.A. during Angel's season 4





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I've been working on this for quite a long time. I found the general idea on a website (though I can't remember which any more so if you recognize the plot idea let me know), really liked it, and decided to put my own spin on it. The timelines are pretty much the same . . . the only thing that's changed is the whole 'Cordelia as a higher being and coming back as evil-Jasmine.' Otherwise everything is the same. Buffy was dead but Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara brought her back. The 'let's meet at the beach' thing between Angel and Cordelia never happened either. Darla staked herself to give birth to Connor, Connor was kidnapped, and is now a broody teenager who still doesn't trust Angel. Any other timeline stuff'll be mentioned at the beginning of the chapters.
> 
> With that said . . . let the games begin . . .
> 
> P.S. I've had this posted on another site for awhile, dunno why I never put it on here. Also haven't worked on it in a while, sorta lost the muse as they say for a lot of my fics though I've been trying to get back into the writing little by little. Just thought I'd post it here for some new viewers, some fresh perspective.

Prologue

  
“What am I gonna do?” Buffy said to herself for the tenth time that day. She lay on her bed on her back, looking up at the ceiling. One of her hands gently rested on her tummy, lazily tracing circles over and over. The positive pregnancy test was in her free hand, and she was twirling it.  
She didn’t even know how it was possible that she was pregnant. She hadn’t had sex since before Riley left. And that was well over a year and a death ago! She’d only been back from said death for a little over than a month. It just wasn’t possible. Okay, apparently it *was* possible, but it still didn’t make any sense.

  
She looked at the pregnancy test again, as if seeing it a twelfth time would make the result any different. It didn’t. In fact, it just made her cry again! Thankful no one was home but her, she put her face in her pillow and screamed. It really wasn’t a very adult thing way to deal with her problem, in fact it was very childish, but made her feel better. When she had had enough, she pushed her long blonde hair out of her face and wiped her eyes. She took a deep breath and stood up.

  
Dawn would be home from school in an hour and Willow would be back from class in two and half hours. Suddenly a thought struck her: _If I’m pregnant I can’t protect Dawn anymore._ But if I’m not here at all, Willow, Xander, and Anya can protect her. That’s it! She would leave Sunnydale until if was safe and come back with the baby.

  
Energized now that she had a plan, Buffy jumped up and went to her closet. Grabbing a duffel bag, she began to pack all the things she’d need: Clothes, toiletries, make-up, Mr. Gordo, stakes, crossbows, holy water, garlic, and her favorite fighting axe. She also grabbed the money she had planned on saving up so she could back to college. However, the money would be needed for other more important things; diapers, baby clothes, food, clothing, housing, bills . . . everything that came with living on one’s own with a child. In total she had eight hundred dollars. It wouldn’t be near enough to the amount she’d actually need but she figured she’d just get a job as a waitress like she’d done the last time she ran away.  
She also needed a place to go and thought she had the perfect place, Los Angeles. She had no plans, however, to go to Angel. She had heard that him and Cordelia were together and that Angel had a son. She didn’t want to screw things up for him or them. No, she’d stay out of their way and live on her own.

  
Packing the last of her things, she went to her desk and picked up a pen and paper. Hurriedly scribbling, she wrote a note to Dawn and Willow telling them *most* of what was going on. She slung her duffel bag on her shoulder and went down the stairs. She put the note right by the front door in the key plate and put on her coat. It was still bright outside as she hurried down the sidewalk and to the bus station. L.A., here we come, she thought, rubbing her tummy.

  
~*~

  
“Buffy! Dawn! I’m home!” Willow shouted as she opened the door and her keys on the tray. She took off her coat and hung it on the hook. “Guys? Anyone?” She went into the living room and . . . saw Dawn. The teenager was sitting on the couch, her eyes brimmed with tears and her lip quivering. “Dawnie, what’s the matter? Where’s Buffy?”

  
Dawn looked up, her eyes puffy and red. She held out her hand and Willow saw a note. She took it and sat down. The note read:

  
**Dawnie & Willow,**  
**I’m gone; I left while you were both out. Don’t worry, everything’s fine. Honest. I just . . . I have something to deal with. I’ll come back, someday. Just, don’t come looking for me. Please, don’t worry,**  
**Buffy.**

  
Willow looked up from the note and looked at Dawn, “When did you find this?”

  
“When I got home,” Dawn sobbed, “It was on the key plate.”

  
“So Buffy wasn’t here when you got home?” Willow asked.

  
Dawn shook her head. “What are we going to do? We can’t just leave her out there, all alone. We have to go find her.”

  
“No, Dawn,” Willow said, “She asked us not to. We just have to wait for her to come back on her own time.”

  
“But I need her! I need her, but she just keeps leaving. Doesn’t she realize that I need her!?” Dawn shouted.

  
“Dawnie, obviously she has something she needs to deal with. We have to just let her alone. She’ll come back when she’s ready,” Dawn nodded, sniffling.

_To Be Continued . . ._

 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

  
10 months later . . .

  
“Come out, Slayer . . . come out, come out wherever you are!”

  
Buffy raced down the dark and dank alley, her newborn child close to her body. The vampire chasing after her was catching up, so she ran faster. Her blonde hair whipped in her face, and her daughter Lexi was bawling up a storm. But who could blame her? The one-month-old infant didn’t know what was going on.

  
Buffy turned the corner and went deeper into the alley. A few seconds later, the vamp turned the corner too. Buffy didn’t take time to look back, but only ran faster. Using her super strength and agility, she easily jumped over a fence and kept moving. Her lungs were burning, but she ignored it and didn’t stop.

  
“I’ll get you my pretty . . . and your little brat too!” the vamp shouted.

Jeesh, Buffy thought, This guy is just hittin’ the cliches today, isn’t he? She kept running, running . . . until she came to a dead end. On three sides of her, there were huge, thick, brick walls. The only way out was where the vamp was coming.

When he caught up with her, he smiled, “Where’re ya gonna go now Slayer? Got ya all backed in a corner, I did.”

  
“Where in the hell did you learn your grammar from? ‘Grammar For Dummies’?” Buffy shot back. She rocked Lexi up and down in the crook of her arm.

  
“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I was you, Slayer. Especially with that tiny, delicious, little babe ya got there,” the vamp licked his lips. “I’ve never tasted the blood of a slayer’s offspring. A slayer either . . . but I’ve heard stories. I can’t wait to taste if it’s true.”

  
Buffy used her free hand to discreetly pull a stake out of her back jeans pocket. “One thing you didn’t count on: I don’t need two hands to fight.” She raised the stake and he lunged at her. She moved the baby out of the way and kicked the vamp in the stomach. He barely flinched and brought his fist down on her face. It collided with her mouth and she tasted blood. Spitting the copper-tasting liquid out, she kicked the vamp in the shins. He sank to the ground and cried out in pain. “Oh god, my leg!”

  
“Deja vu anyone?” Buffy said. While the vamp was still on his knees Buffy gently set Lexi down where she would be out of the way and safe for the moment. The infant bawled and squalled as her mother went back to the vamp. Swinging her arm she brought the stake down and punctured the vampire’s undead heart. He shouted and cursed.

  
“Bitc–” the vamp said just before exploding into dust.

  
Buffy went back to Lexi and picked the little girl up. “Some people should just learn to watch their language around children,” she said to Lexi, who was still crying. Buffy sighed and started making her way out of the alley and toward the bus stop. Sitting on the bench she started singing a lullaby to calm Lexi before the bus arrived.

  
~*~

  
Lorne the empath demon hummed as he walked down the sidewalk. He was on his way to a private reading a couple of blocks away. The night was quiet and the moonlight made his green skin glow. He was from a dimension called Pylea, in which the natives were green with red horns. Lorne had left Pylea because he was different from his fellow Pyleans. He could read people’s auras when they sang. And of course there was no music, love, or art in Pylea. Only cranky green demons and ‘cow’ slaves. Cow referring to what Pyleans called humans, of course.

Anyway, it was quiet until Lorne could hear a very loud cry that sounded like it was coming from a baby. And boy, did that kid have a ripe set of pipes. He also heard a woman singing. Her voice was very beautiful and knocked the sense right out of Lorne. Literally.

  
While the woman sang, he automatically read her. She was a new mom, trying to make it on her own. And besides a beautiful voice she also had a genuinely warm and caring heart. He could also tell that she’d been burned by love more than once. Then . . . bam.

  
She was a Slayer! And in her head Lorne saw that she knew someone Lorne was also familiar with. Angel, the vampire with a soul. They had been lovers in the past and were now just friends. The reading ended and Lorne blinked. He had to talk to her! Without thinking, he ran up to her.

  
The minute she saw him her eyes went wide in surprise and she went on the defensive. She stood up and went after him. Before he could say anything, her fist collided with his face and he was out. The last thing he saw before passing out from his position on the ground was the Slayer running way.

  
~*~

  
After that horrible demon attacked them, Buffy ran to the one place she knew she could get answers: The Oracles. Giles had once told her about them and how to get a hold of them. Also, the part about the gift. So, she went to the cave where the Oracles were, with Lexi in her arms, and shouted for them to come to her. “I need to talk to the Oracles! Please! It’s really important!” She looked up at the ceiling, waiting hopefully, “Please!”

  
“Silence lower being!” two voices, a man and a woman shouted at the same time. There were no bodies to be seen.

  
“Please, I need answers,” Buffy pleaded.

  
“What have you brought us?” the Oracles said.

  
Buffy pulled a dagger from her pocket, “Dagger of Lex.” The dagger floated out of her hand and onto the altar in the middle of the cave.

  
“Very well, your answers will be given,” the Oracles said, “You wish to know about the demon who you think is after your offspring.”

  
“Yes. Why is it after us? Is Lexi in danger?” Buffy asked, rocking a sleeping Lexi.

  
“No,” the Oracles said, “You must learn, Slayer, that not every demon is on the side of evil. The answers you seek lie within your heart.”   
Buffy raised her eyebrow, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  
“Patience, Slayer. The demon with a soul, Angel. Go to him. Therein lies the sanctuary you have been searching for. Follow your heart, for it will guide you well. But beware, the answer is among you,” the Oracles spoke. A bright, white light filled the room and Buffy closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was in front of a hotel. She heard voices from within.

  
~*~

  
“What are you trying to say, Lorne?” Cordelia said in frustration.

  
He panted, out of breath from running all the way from the bus stop after he woke up. “I was at the, ah . . . I was at the bus stop. There was a woman there, with a baby.” He stopped to catch a breath.

  
Angel, Cordelia, Fred, Gunn, and Wesley all anxiously waiting for Lorne to finish his story, “Well?” Fred said.

  
“The baby was crying, and the woman was singing to her.” Lorne said.

  
“How do you know the baby was a girl?” Angel asked.

  
“That’s a very good question, Angelcakes. The same way I know that you know who the woman is,” Lorne said.

  
“Who is it?” Angel said.

  
“Hmm, she has blonde hair, green eyes, is really strong and agile even though she’s short and tiny? Goes by the title of ‘Vampire Slayer’? Ring any bell?” Lorne said.

  
“Buffy!? Buffy’s in L.A.?” Angel shouted.

  
“There’s more than that Angelcakes, a lot more. Which you can see by the huge bruise on my face,” Lorne said, wincing.

  
“Buffy hit you?” Cordelia asked. Lorne nodded.

  
“Are we talking about the same Slayer who died and came back to life?” Fred asked.

  
“Yes,” Angel said, “Hey, did you say that Buffy has a baby?”

  
“Yep. Kid’s as cute as a button. No, scratch that, cuter than a button. If Judy Garland and Tony Bennet had a beautiful love child it would look like the Slayer’s child. Anyway, she has had a tough time these past months.” Lorne said.

  
“Where is she? Why didn’t you bring her here?” Angel said.

  
“I was kind of busy with the passing out. Before I could even say anything, she socked me in the face!” Lorne said.

  
“Well duh!” Cordelia said, “You walk up to the Slayer with her child in her arms lookin’ all green. It’s like walking up to an bear with cubs by her!”

  
“Cordelia’s right,” Fred said, “It’s a natural maternal instinct. Plus the fact that Buffy has never met Lorne. She didn’t know he was good. She probably thought he was evil. Naturally she would assume he was going to attack her child.”

  
“Well, I didn’t know that!” Lorne protested.

  
“Guys, shouldn’t we go find her?” Gunn asked.

  
Angel ignored him, “Lorne, tell me more about what you saw when you read her.”

  
“Sorry Angelcakes, but I think blondie over their should tell you her story,” Lorne pointed towards the front door. Everyone looked to where he was pointing.

_To Be Continued . . ._


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

  
“Buffy?” Angel said, staring at her. She was weary and ragged, much thinner than the last time he has seen her—unhealthily thin. Her face was gaunt and there were dark circles under her eyes. Their eyes locked and Angel could see sadness, happiness, and relief. It wasn’t until she broke the contact that he noticed the baby. The bundle was moving and a small cry could be heard. The was a duffel bag on her shoulder. “Are you o—whoa!” Buffy started to sway and Angel quickly went to her side and caught her. Using one arm, he carefully extracted the small baby from the Slayer’s arms. With the other he held Buffy close to him. “Cordelia, take the baby.”

  
She immediately stood up and took Buffy’s child from Angel. Angel picked Buffy up and laid her down on the couch. He put his pointer and middle finger against the vein in her neck. “She’s still breathing.”

  
“What do you think happened?” Fred asked. Cordelia sat down and rocked the baby.

  
“It appears as if she collapsed from exhaustion,” Wesley said.

  
“Which still begs the question,” Cordelia said, holding the baby’s little hand, “Why is she in Los Angeles? Why isn’t she in Sunnydale?”

  
“Maybe she ran away?” Fred suggested.

  
“No,” Angel said, “She would never leave Dawn unless she thought that Dawn would be in danger with her around.”

  
“I agree,” Cordelia nodded her head.

  
“Who’s Dawn?” Gunn asked.

  
“Buffy’s little sister,” Cordelia explained, “Buffy’s always been super-protective of Dawn.”

  
“Yeah,” Angel said, “I remember when Angelus almost killed Dawn. If it hadn’t have been for Willow, Angelus would have succeeded.”

  
“Speaking of Willow, we should call her. She may be able to tell us what happened,” Cordelia said.

  
Angel shook his head, “I don’t want them involved until it’s necessary.”

  
“Angel, she may not wake up. We need to know what’s going on, why she collapsed. Yes, she’s obviously worried and upset about something. But we need to know what about,” Cordelia insisted.

  
“No!” Angel said, taking an unneeded breath. “If Buffy’s not in Sunnydale then something must have happened between them. When Buffy wakes up, she’ll tell us whether or not she wants us to call them.” He picked her up again, “I’m taking her up to upstairs to my room so she can be more comfortable. Take care of the baby.”

“Sure,” Fred nodded. Angel went upstairs and disappeared on the second floor, taking Buffy and the duffel bag she’d had with him.

  
Cordelia laid the baby one the sofa and put pillows around the infant. She gently undid the blanket that was around the baby. A tiny baby head poked out and she whimpered, “Oh! She’s so adorable!” The baby started bawling and flailing her arms and legs. “Oh, I know! I know!” she said in a baby voice, “Mommy will be alright.”

  
“Will she though?” Fred asked quietly. The baby continued to cry in Cordelia’s ear.

  
“Sure she will,” Cordelia said, “She’s already died. Twice. She’s not going to let a little exhaustion do her in. She’ll be our regular old ‘Hurricane Buffy’ by the end of the day. Sooner, probably.”

  
“If you say so, Cordy,” Gunn said, shaking his head.

  
“That’s right, I do say so,” Cordelia said stubbornly, “Meanwhile, I’m going to bring the baby up to Buffy. Maybe it’ll make her feel better.” And stop screaming in my ear! she thought to herself. Standing up she bounced the baby up and down and went toward the stairs.

  
“We’ll start researching the Beast again,” Wesley said behind Cordelia.

  
“Okay,” Cordelia called back. When she reached the top of the stairs she went down the hall towards Angel’s room.

  
From within she heard Angel shouting, “Dammit Buffy! Why didn’t you come to me sooner! I could have helped you! I need you to tell me what’s going on. You need to wake up! If you won’t do it for me, then at least do it for your daughter.” Cordelia knocked on the door, “What do you want Cordelia?”  
Cordelia opened the door and went in, “Jeez, you don’t have to snap. I just thought that if I brought the baby up, Buffy would feel better.”

  
“It won’t help. She’s in a coma. She’s just being her usual stubborn self and won’t wake up.” Angel rolled his eyes, frustrated.

  
Cordelia snickered. “I’m still going to try. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t at least try.” She went up to the bed and sat down on the end. The comatose Slayer looked weary as she lay with her hands folded in front of her. There was a wan smile on her face and her skin was pale.

  
Cordelia put the crying baby next to her mother. As soon as she set the baby down, she stopped crying. She cooed and latched onto Buffy’s hair. Cordelia quickly but carefully pulled the baby’s chubby fingers from the Slayer’s locks.

  
Angel chuckled and Cordelia looked up. “What’s so funny?”

  
“Nothing. It’s just that they look so alike. Actually, the baby looks like a little model of Buffy. Am I right?” Angel sat down on a rocking chair he had once used to rock his son, Connor. Of course, that had been when Connor actually had been a baby. Now he was an angry and confused teen.  
Cordelia looked at Buffy and the little girl and tilted her head. “Yep, you’re right. Oh god, two Hurricane Buffy’s! Uh oh, we’re in trouble.”

  
“Why do you always refer to her as ‘Hurricane Buffy’?” Angel asked.

  
Cordelia shrugged, “I don’t know. Just think of every time she’s come here since we’ve been here. It just seems like every time she comes, trouble follows.”

  
“That could be true. But she’s also done more than her fair share of good. We’ve both seen that,” Angel said.

  
“That’s very true. But still, she came when Faith was trying to kill all of us. And she came after you went to Sunnydale and didn’t say a word, you guys had to fight off a demon. You brooded even more after she left the last time. And now . . .” Cordelia sighed.

  
“And now what?” Angel said.

  
“Now she’s dumped this kid on our laps, with no explanation, no name. And she’s taking a nap for crying out loud!” Cordelia said. “We don’t even know what’s going on.”

  
“I know. I don’t like it either. But there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to let her wake up on her own. Like Lorne said, she must have had it rough these past couple of months. When she got here, she must have felt like she could finally rest. And until she wakes up, we just have to take things moment to moment,” Angel said, now staring at Buffy. For a few seconds that’s all he did, was stare at Buffy. He looked up and Cordelia gave him a look as if to say ‘You still love her, don’t you?’ Angel unintentionally flashed her his ‘Of course’ look.

  
Cordelia sighed and stood up, her heart breaking all over again. For awhile, before Buffy had shown up, she thought that Angel really loved her. Not just loved, but loved loved her. More than the friendship they’d developed over the past couple of years. But now she knew that it wasn’t possible anymore. Angel was still in love with Buffy . . . and always would be. “I’ll, ah, leave you three alone for awhile,” Cordelia said, “I’ll help the others research the Beast.”

  
Angel raised his eyebrow in confusion, “Am I missing something?”

  
“What? No, I, ah, I just want to give you guys some time. Maybe you and the baby can get Buffy to wake up,” Cordelia stuttered, getting up quickly and moving toward the door.

  
“Cordelia!” Angel shouted. The door slammed behind her as she left the room. He groaned in frustration. The baby on the bed whimpered and started crying softly. Angel rolled his eyes and hurried to his ex’s child. “Ssh, it’s okay.” he said, picking up the infant. “Don’t cry, it’s okay.” He bounced the baby up and down.

_To Be Continued . . ._


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

  
Fred looked up from the book she was reading and adjusted her glasses. She was sitting on the circular chair in the middle of the lobby. “Is anybody finding anything?”

  
Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne shook their heads. “Man, how are we supposed to research something that doesn’t exist in any of the books we have?” Gunn said.

  
“That’s a very good question, considering we’ve never gone up against anything like this ‘Beast’ before,” Wesley replied. “All we had was the information Wolfram & Hart retrieved from Lorne’s mind that Angel got from Lilah.”

  
“Yeah, I still have the bump to prove it,” Lorne rubbed the sore spot on his forehead.

  
“But Wolfram & Hart stole all of that,” Fred said.

  
“So we’re back at square one,” Gunn said, “Completely in the dark.”

  
“Except now we’ve got Buffy and her child to worry about too. Plus whatever was in Lorne’s reading that was so terrible could come after us and Buffy could make it significantly more difficult to defend ourselves,” Wesley said. Fred nodded nervously.

  
“I knew it!”Cordelia said, smirking. “I knew the minute she walked in here!”

  
“Knew what?” Gunn said.

  
“The minute Hurricane Buffy walked into this hotel, our lives were doomed,” Cordelia said. Not just my life, but my love life, she thought.

  
“Don’t be too quick to put blondie up there down,” Lorne said, “She’s had it rough the past ten months.”

  
Cordelia sniggered, “Give me a break! Little miss ‘My life is so horrible so I’m going to make everyone else’s hell’!”

  
“Cordelia, are you okay?” Wesley said.

  
“I’m fine! Why does everyone keep asking me that!” Cordelia shouted.

  
“No reason,” Fred said, “It’s just, you seem a little . . .”

  
“I’m not jealous!” Cordelia snapped.

  
“I was gonna say stressed, but now that you mention it, yes. You do,” Fred nodded.

  
“I’m not jealous!” Cordelia repeated.

  
“Whether you are or not, we have a situation going on. Now, somebody should go up and check on Angel, Buffy, and the baby,” Wesley said.

  
“I’m certainly not going!” Cordelia said.

  
“I’ll go,” Lorne volunteered, going toward the stairs. The phone rang as he went up.

  
“Cordelia, why don’t you get that?” Wesley said. “Only, try not to snap at whomever is on the phone.”

~*~

The baby was still crying! No matter what Angel did, she just wouldn’t stop! “What’s wrong with you? I feed you, you cry. I hold you, you cry. I rock you, you cry. You’re more stubborn than Connor ever was!” He sat down on the rocking chair in the corner of Connor’s old nursery. He held the baby in front of him. Her little legs rested on his knees.

  
Buffy was still asleep in Angel’s bed. He had never been so angry at her before. Actually, he hadn’t been angry at her. He was angry at himself because he hadn’t been able to protect her or her child. If he had just called Sunnydale for . . . well, anything he would have found out that she wasn’t there. Then he would have gone to find her.

  
The baby’s cries brought him out of his thoughts. He sighed, “Okay, this didn’t work on Connor, but maybe it’ll work on you . . .” he started to sing one of the old Irish lullabies he knew.

  
While he was singing, the door opened and Lorne came in, “Well, if this isn’t deja vu or what?”

  
“Tell me about it,” Angel mumbled. The baby continued to cry.

  
“Sleeping beauty’s still out, huh?” Lorne said. Angel nodded and gestured toward his room. “She’ll wake up when she’s ready.”

  
“When are you going to tell me what you saw when you read her?” Angel said.

  
“Sorry, Angelcakes. You’ll just have to wait til blondie wakes up for that. As for you, my friend, I think cupid’s hit you where you’ve already been struck.” Lorne said.

  
“Huh?” Angel said, bouncing the baby on his knee.

  
Lorne sat down in the recliner across from Angel, “I’m talking about Buffy. The love you have for her is still there. Always has been, always will be. And nothing you say is going to change that. No matter how much you avoid each other or how far away from each other you are. That love is not going away. Whether you two like it or not.”

  
“That still doesn’t change the fact that if I get too happy, I turn into a soulless vampire who can kill all of you with blinking. Yes, I still love you her. Which is why I’m going to stay out of her life and let *her* be happy just like I’ve done for the past four years,” Angel said.

  
“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that?” Lorne said, “She’s here, in your bed, in your life . . . dragging all those old feelings back to the surface.”

  
“So?” Angel said.

  
“‘So’. What are you going to do about it?” Lorne said.

  
Angel looked up at the green empath-demon, actually stumped. “Ah, um, I-ah–Is this why you came up here? To play matchmaker?”

  
“No, but it’s working,” Lorne said, “Anyway, the reason I really came up here was to check on you three.”

  
“Did you find anything about the prophecies?” Angel asked. Lorne shook his head, “I’m going to go check on Connor. Would you watch them?”

  
“Sure,” Lorne said as Angel handed him the baby. Within seconds he was gone out the door. “Yeah, leave me with the crying baby and the sleeping Slayer.” He got up and went to Angel’s room. He jumped when he saw a teen standing there. The teenager turned to face Lorne.

  
“Who is she?” Connor asked, indicating toward the Slayer. He was completely entranced by her.

  
“Well, kid. She’s someone your dad cares about very much,” Lorne said.

  
“Is she sick?” Connor asked.

  
“No, but–Actually, we’re not sure. She hasn’t told us what’s wrong with her. What are you doing here? Angel’s looking for you.” Lorne asked.

  
“I was out, patrolling the streets, and caught a scent. It was so familiar, so I followed it. It brought me here, to her. What’s her name?” Connor said.  
“Buffy. She’s a Slayer,” Lorne said.

  
“Holtz told me about them,” Connor said, “He said they were special. That they had gifts that used them to kill vampires and other bad things. Does she have gifts?”

  
Lorne nodded. “She’s really strong, has super-fast healing, and agility.”

  
“Wow,” Connor said. He just stared at Buffy as if in a trance, “She’s so beautiful.”

  
Lorne chuckled, “You really are your father’s son.”

  
Connor’s entranced expression became confused. “Huh?”

  
“Exactly,” Lorne said, smiling. He bounced the little baby up and down.

  
“Is that a . . . a baby?” Connor said.

  
“Why, yes. You just noticed her now?” Lorne said. Connor opened his mouth to speak, but Lorne cut him off. “Don’t answer that.”

  
“Who does she belong too?” Connor asked.

  
“Buffy,” Lorne said. “Why don’t you sit by Buffy for a while, see if you can’t get her to wake up.” Connor nodded and sat down in the chair beside the bed Buffy was on. Lorne chuckled again and went back into the old nursery. He looked at the little baby, “Now, let’s get you to stop crying. You don’t want your mommy to wake up and have to deal with a crabby little baby, do you?” A wail of protest gave Lorne his answer. “Guess so. What’s it gonna take? A little Patty Labelle, Barbara Streisand, or even Barry Manilow?”

 

~*~

 

Lilah Morgan sat at her desk in her office at Wolfram & Hart. Her high-heeled pumps were off and she rested her bare feet on her desk. It had been a long and busy day of keeping her bosses and clients happy. The smoozing, the ass-kissing, ritual sacrifices, spells . . . the usual.

  
Also, a project she’d been working on for almost a year was causing problems. She’d had the subject of the project in custody several times but the woman kept escaping despite Lilah's best efforts. This girl was important to the Senior Partners so of course she was important to Lilah.

  
Since learning about the woman coming to town, Lilah had brushed up her knowledge of Sunnydale, California’s history from the past seven years. Also, the woman’s entire life history. From the first tooth she lost, to the first time she went ice skating, past boyfriends, parents, little sister, daughter, friends, school records, college application, job transcripts, run-ins with the law, medical history, patrol schedule, estimated number of vampires and demons she’d killed, apocalypses she’d averted, how many times she’d died, past enemies . . . everything.

  
This woman, this Slayer, was beginning to be quite the pain in Lilah’s ass. And Buffy Summers wasn’t even close to where the Senior Partners wanted her to be. Now all Lilah had to do was find the Slayer and take her back into Wolfram & Hart’s custody. Then she’d get the biggest promotion any Wolfram & Hart employee had ever dreamed of.

  
And as a bonus . . . the Slayer her little brat would be dead . . .

_To Be Continued . . ._


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

  
Connor looked curiously at the Slayer asleep on his father’s bed. He had no idea why she was there. Or even how Angel knew her. All Lorne had said was that Angel cared for her very much. Holtz had explained to him once about human sickness. How people got pale, clammy, or even extremely hot to the touch. But . . . Buffy wasn’t any of these things. Here skin had a golden color with a hint of red. He gently touched her forehead. It wasn’t hot or clammy. It was just right. So what was wrong with her? Why was she asleep like this? And why had Lorne made such a big deal out of it? And how could Angel love a Slayer? She kills his kind for a living . . . so why hasn’t she killed Angel?

  
A million questions similar to those rang Connor’s mind, confusing him. He’d been raised in a black and white world, where all demons and everything that wasn’t human was evil. But now, he was in a world with black, white, and many different shades of grey. He wasn’t sure who was good, who was evil, or even the fact if certain things happened, certain people would switch sides. None of it made sense to him.

  
And then there was the Slayer. She, whoever she was for her generation, was supposed to fight the monsters and protect the innocent. She was supposed to serve as the savior of mankind from any non-human, evil being that threatened the safety of the world. She was supposed to be the purest, whitest force on the side of good, below Holtz’s ‘God,’ of course. And yet here she was, in love with one of the worst vampires on the face of the planet and asleep on his bed, no less.

  
What was he supposed to believe?

~*~

“No! No! Please!”

  
Angel raced upstairs immediately and was at Buffy’s side seconds later. The comatose Slayer thrashed and screamed, kicking off the blankets on the bed. Sweat dripped down Buffy’s face as Angel held on to her shoulders to keep her still.

  
“No!” Buffy continued to scream as Angel held her down. “No! Leave me alone! Please . . .” Angel faltered a moment, thinking he was hurting her, before he realized that she was dreaming. She didn’t even know he was there.

“Buffy, it’s okay,” Angel pinned her wrists gently but firmly together to the bed with one of his hands and with the other he held both of her ankles together as she continued to thrash around, crying, “Buffy, stop! It’s just a dream! It isn’t real!”

  
“No . . .” Buffy, still asleep, rolled her head from side to side, “Stop . . . stop it! Leave me alone! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” Buffy was screaming now.

  
“Gunn!” Angel shouted at the top of his lungs. Just minutes later Gunn and Wesley appeared in the doorway, shock on their faces. “Get some ropes! Now!” The two men nodded, disappearing from the room. Angel turned back to the agitated Slayer. Her seizure-ish thrashes became more violent with the moment and he almost lost his grip a few times. A few minutes later Gunn and Wesley reappeared in the room with several lengths of ropes and a pair of handcuff chains.

  
Gunn and Wesley came up to Angel and Buffy and the three of them started strapping the Slayer to down to the bed so she couldn’t hurt herself. She continued to thrash around but she was secure . . . for now.

  
Angel turned to Wesley, “That’s not going to be enough to hold her. Is there a spell you could do to back up the chains and ropes?”

  
“Not that I know of,” Wesley said, “But I could do a spell to calm her down a little.”

  
“Okay,” Angel nodded, “Now would be better than later.” Wesley nodded and left the room to get the supplies he’d need.

  
Gunn turned to Angel, “What happened?”

  
Angel sat down on the bed next to the agitated Slayer, “She just started seizing. I was down the hall checking on Lorne and the baby and I heard her scream.” Gunn glanced at the Slayer, who was still crying out and muttering under her breath, “I think she’s dreaming. She’s crying out, telling someone or something to stop and leave her alone.”

  
“Must have somethin’ to do with that “dark past” Lorne mentioned when he told us he read her,” Gunn suggested.

  
Angel looked back over at Buffy, memories of so long ago when Buffy had still been in high school and that demon’s blood had made her able to hear people’s thoughts. She’d been in so much pain then. Angel wondered what was causing this pain for her now . . .

*~*

_The Slayer, her expression angry yet tired, stood ready for anything. Staring at the evil fiends in front of her she gripped a pair of twin axes in her hands._

  
_Not even two feet in front of her were twenty men wearing black military garb with tranquilizer guns locked, loaded, and aimed directly at Buffy._   
_Her maternal and Slayer instincts flared at full force, the muscles in her ever-increasing abdomen tightening. Her heart beat furiously and the adrenaline was pumping._

  
_One of the operatives turned to man beside him, “The Senior Partners will want the target alive, men.”_

  
_“The Senior Partners can kiss my ass!” Buffy spat, clutching the axes tighter._

  
_“Shut your mouth, Slayer!” The lead operative commanded. They rushed her, surrounding her on every side._

  
_“No, leave me alone!” Buffy yelled angrily. She swung one of axes but the lead operative caught it in his hand and flung it back. The handle reared back and clonked her in the forhead. Her vision blurred and soon she was plunged in darkness . . ._

  
_“No!!!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed before she was completely overtaken._

*~*  
  
“DON'T LET THEM TAKE MY BABY!!!!!!”

  
Angel held her by the shoulders. “We need to find out what happened to her. It might help us figure out why she's like this.”

  
“I quite agree,” Wesley came back into the room with various herbs and other magical supplies in his hands.

  
“NO!” Buffy continued to cry out.

  
“Sounds like something's killing her,” Lorne massaged her temple.

  
“LEAVE ME ALONE, BITCH!”

  
“Blondie's got a mouth,” Gunn observed.   
Tears made their way down her cheeks and Lorne wiped them awy. “She's in pain—she's protecting her child.”

  
“The question is, from what?” Angel said.

  
“LILAH YOU STAY AWAY FROM LEXI! YOU LEAVE MY BABY ALONE!”

  
The men all looked at each other. “Lexi . . .” Lorne said. 

 

“Lilah Morgan,” Angel grit his teeth, “Wolfram & Hart. They're the ones who are after her.”

  
“Who's Lexi?” Gunn said.

  
“The baby,” Wesley guessed.

  
Angel sighed, mumbling to himself, “I should have known.”

  
“What was that?” Lorne looked at him.

  
“Nothing,” Angel stood up. “Wesley, do the spell.” He was gone even before any of them could figure it out he'd left.

_To Be Continued . . ._


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

  
Lilah flipped through the Slayer's file once again. Thick as it was, there was nothing to tell her how to get and keep Buffy and the child in Wolfram & Hart's grasp. No matter how many times she went over every tape they had from the brief times Buffy was in their custody and the file and the Slayer's history and weaknesses, no matter how many times they drugged her—both mystically and otherwise, no matter how many times they beat and bludgeoned her so she would stay unconscious . . . Buffy Summers always found a way to escape from them.

  
Not only was it pissing Lilah off . . . it was making her bosses particulary cross with her.

  
The sooner the Slayer and her brat were dead the better—for all parties involved. That is, if Lilah or her staff could ever find the Slayer and her brat. Lilah wasn't all that clear on what the Senior Partner's plan for the mother/daughter was. Not that she cared, however. As long as she delivered them . . . it was all good.

  
“Guess what?”

  
Lilah jumped as the door to her office blew open and the other pain in her ass—besides the Slayer—strolled up behind her desk and pulled her head back. She could feel the cool, sharpness of a blade against the hollow of her throat. Her body tensed up as she was held back against her chair by her shoulders. As always, though, she kept her cool. “Angel, what a nice surprise.” The vampire pressed a little harder on the knife. She stayed calm. It was her style, after all.“To what do I owe this pleasant visit?” 

  
“Drop the act, Lilah,” Angel let go of her, pushing her backward as he leaned against her desk. The knife was still his hand.

  
“I haven't touched Connor,” Lilah's voice was short.

  
Angel's hand slammed on the top of her desk. Lilah jumped, but not enough for Angel to notice. Or so she thought. “Don't start, Lilah. We both know exactly why I'm here.”

  
“Do you?”

  
“What does Wolfram & Hart want with the Slayer?” Angel

  
“I was wondering how long it would take for you to figure out,” Lilah took a deep breath. “No matter how many times they torturd her she never talked about you.” Angel just stared at her. “That's how we know how important you were to you. The important things she never talked about but frivolous things . . . we'd go on and on about shoes for days.”

  
“As stimulating as this conversation is, I'm going to need a little bit more information than if pumps are in or out this season,” Angel started pacing around the room.

  
“There's that sense of humor again. Every once and awhile it just creeps in between the death threats and interrogations,” Lilah mused. Her face became serious. “Is that how you white hats get through the day? 'We lost today . . . but boy weren't those some great jokes we cracked while losing!' Great stuff.” She laughed. “Maybe if you actually worked toward something you might win the war one of these times.”

  
Angel looked around the room, “This what you call winning? A cozy little office you spend all your time in? An expensive apartment you're never in? A closet full of shoes? A spot on the Senior Partner's Christmas list? An empty life surrounded by evil. Seems so . . . fulfilling.” Angel opened the door, talking with his back facing the lawyer. “I win every time I spoil your employers' plans. Just as I'm going to do this time.”

  
Without another word, the vampire with a soul was gone.

  
~*~

  
Fred poked her head into Angel's room, checking to make sure there was no one in there. There wasn't so she wandered in the room, sitting in a sort of cradle position on a an upholstered chair a few feet away from the bed. Buffy still lay asleep on the bed. After Wesley had done his spell, Buffy had calmed down a little but not much. She was still restrained to the bed and occasionally yelled out things they didn't understand. Though understanding was a relative term considering they knew the words being said but not the meaning behind them . . .

  
Ever since Buffy had arrived Fred had been intrigued by her. The Slayer. She'd never really heard the term before except when Wesley and Cordelia were acting out Buffy and Angel's history—though Fred suspected they'd exaggerated and left all sorts of things out. She'd have to ask Buffy if—when she woke up. Maybe. She wasn't really one for socializing with new people . . . or at all.

  
Five years in a cave in a dimension where you're called a cow and enslaved to hideous demons would de-socialize any person. Even after you're saved by a handsome man on horse.

  
Fred suddenly wondered how many times Angel saved Buffy. Do slayers need saving? No one had really given her the definition of a slayer yet. From what she could figure out so far slayers were girls with some kind of superpowers . . . kinda like Wonder Woman she surmised. Or maybe not.  
Just another question she'd have to add to list list she might ask Buffy if she woke up.

  
“Lexi . . .”

  
Buffy's sudden but quiet speech made Fred jump. (Yet another side effect of five years in a cave in a dimension where you're called a cow and enslaved to hideous demons). She looked up from her chair. Buffy was pulling at her ropes and mumbling things. Dreaming again. Probably nightmares.   
Fred had those quite often. Horrible, terrifying nightmares she woke up from drenched in sweat and having fallen on the floor.

  
She couldn't really understand the things Buffy was mumbling so she crawled over to the bed and sat on the floor next to it. Now she could sort of hear . . . but it was all jumbles:

 

“Leave . . . alone . . . away . . . baby . . . no . . . Lexi . . . will get away again . . .”

  
Fred kinked her eyebrow. Oddly enough all that made sense to her. Whoever it was that was giving Buffy so much trouble kidnapped her more than once and Buffy kept escaping. The only question was why did they want her so much?

  
Buffy started mumbling again: “Can't have . . . mine . . . won't let . . . just a baby . . . no . . .”

  
Oh . . . so they want Lexi, Fred thought . . . It must have something to do with the Slayer thing. Fred wondered why they wanted the baby though. What good is a baby? All they do is eat, sleep, and make waste. They do grow into adults though . . .

  
“What are you doing in here?”

  
Fred jumped again and turned. She saw a pair of legs . . . legs wearing black pants and black shoes. She looked up. It was Angel—and he had a pad of paper and a pencil in his hand. “A-Angel . . . I-I wa-as just . . .”

  
Angel sighed, “You don't have to explain . . . I shouldn't have scared you like that.” He took her arms and helped her up. He was always such a gentleman like that.

  
“I'll just go . . .” Fred started to leave.  
“No, you don't have to go,” Angel said.

  
Her face wrinkled in confusion. He just asked her why she was in here, implying that she shouldn't be in here but now he said she does't have to leave . . .

  
“Stay. Sit. I was just checking on her,” Angel.

  
Fred nodded, going back to the chair she was sitting in before, doing what she was told. She liked to do what she was told. She knew what to expect if she did what she was expected to do.

  
Angel sat in the chair that was directly next to the bed. He started drawing, though of what Fred couldn't see. She proposed the picture was of Buffy, though. She'd was looking for Angel in his office one day and instead of Angel she found a whole drawer full of sketches of a girl that wasn't anyone she knew. She supposed them to be Buffy . . . and after seeing Buffy now she knew she was right.

  
Fred drew her knees up and rested her chin on top of her knees. She liked to watch Angel draw or Cordelia practicing her acting or Wesley with his books or Charles cleaning his weapons. She liked observing people in their natural habit. It helped her to understand a person better. She wondered what Buffy's natural habit was. Slaying . . . maybe. She wasn't sure.

  
She really didn't want to bother Angel while he was drawing . . . but she had so many questions. He was really focused right now. He stared intently at the sketch pad, barely even looking up. Fred supposed he'd done this so many times he knew what Buffy's facial features were without even looking at them. Yet another clue that all those sketches she'd found were of Buffy. He looked up and stared at the wall for a few moments. Fred found her window. “Angel?”

  
“Yes, Fred?”

  
“What's a Slayer?” She asked. “I've been hearing everyone talk about it but I still don't understand what it is.”

  
Angel nodded, setting the sketch pad and pencil down on the nightstand between the bed and his chair. “A Slayer is a she, always has and always will be.”

  
“That part I sorta worked out on my own,” Fred told him.

  
“Yeah,” Angel said. “Thousands of years ago these men needed someone to fight the demons . . .” Fred stared intently as a child at storytime. “So they took this girl and they put the essence of a demon in her . . . and she became the Slayer. She now had more strength, more agility, and she healed faster than other humans did. She fought the demons and other things to protect the people.”

  
“Like we do?” Fred asked.

  
“Exactly . . . except for the money part,” Angel smirked. Fred giggled. “And when the first Slayer died . . . someone else was called. It's been like ever since. Buffy became the Slayer four years ago.”

  
“So if Buffy dies, someone else will be the Slayer?” Fred tried to work all of this out in her head.

  
“Right . . . but Buffy already died,” Angel said. Fred kinked her eyebrow. How does that work? “About three and a half years ago . . . Buffy was fighting this very old and dangerous vampire called the Master. He drown her . . . took off, but Buffy's friend Xander and I found her and he brought her back. But even though she was only dead for a minute or two, it still called another Slayer. Kendra. She came to town a couple of months later and we had to figure it all out. She left and a couple more months later . . . she came back and was killed by Drusilla—an insane and deadly vampire.” There was something in Angel's eyes then that Fred noticed. The broody stare was deeper, filled with guilt. Fred wondered what this Drusilla was to him. Oh well . . . story for another time. “When Kendra died, Faith was called.”

  
“Where's Faith now?” Fred cocked her head to the side.

  
“Currently she's in prison,” Angel said. “She hit a dark path and killed a few people . . . but she's paying for her crimes. She knows what she's done is wrong and she wants to stay in prison to repent. If she truly wanted to, she wouldn't stay there.”

  
“Wow,” Fred's Texan accent twanged, “Do you think she's really good now?”

  
Angel chuckled, “If you knew Faith you wouldn't ask me that question. But yeah, for all intended purposes she's not killing anymore.”

  
Over on the bed, Buffy was stirring again. Her head shook from side to side and she was mumbling again. “Will she ever wake up?”

  
“We're doing everything we can,” Angel picked up his sketchbook and started drawing again. Fred decided to go to her room to contemplate all that Angel had just told her and what she'd heard from Buffy. She left quietly—but not as quiet as Angel—and closed her door behind her.

  
~*~

  
Back in his room, Angel worked diligently on his sketch. He was still trying to work through what little he'd learned from Lilah. He knew that Wolfram & Hart had taken Buffy several times . . . he didn't know why though. Did it have something to do with Lexie? As far as memory served no Slayer had ever had a child. Well, except for that one Spike killed in New York but she'd had her kid before she became a Slayer.

  
Or maybe it had nothing to do with Lexie. Maybe the baby was just an added bonus to having the oldest-known Slayer in their hands. Whatever. Angel didn't really care what their purpose was or why they wanted Buffy and Lexi. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure the Senior Partners didn't lay another ethereal finger on either one of them.

  
It was suddenly Connor all over again . . . he could see the cages marked 'Mother' and 'Baby' all over again . . . all the medical tools. Even after avoiding it, he'd essentially lost both Darla and Connor.

  
He wouldn't make the same mistake with Buffy and Lexi. He'd protect them, he'd shield them, he'd make sure Buffy didn't lose Lexie, and he'd ensure Lexi the childhood she was supposed to have.

  
Whether Buffy liked it or not, he was in her and Lexi's lives. For good.

_To Be Continued . . ._


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

 

_Buffy looked down in wonder as she lay eyes on her little girl. She blocked everything else around her: the noise from the street down below, the neighbors through the walls of the motel, the low hum of the rickety old air conditioner._

  
_Alexis Joyce Summers had only been alive for nearly an hour and already Buffy wanted to do everything in her power to keep Lilah and her slimy lawfirm hands off of her daughter._

  
_She'd managed to escape again, before she went into labor—thank god. Wolfram & Hart's medical staff had been too busy preparing for the 'magical-enduced-labor' they'd planned so they could steal the baby. So...she slipped out. Traded the ugly hospital gown for a nurse's scrubs and snuck right out. Luckily there'd been money in the nurse's pockets. Just enough for one night in a motel, a cute little onsie, a bag of chips, and a very basic first-aid kit._

  
_Not long after arriving at the motel she was in labor. It was over quickly, only about a half an hour before Buffy's baby was born. The newborn seemed to be born with the knowledge that all was not well and remained quiet. This worried Buffy but somehow she just knew the baby was okay._   
_Since then Buffy couldn't stop staring at the tiny baby. It didn't seem real and yet somehow it was more real than anything she'd been through in the months prior._

  
_The two quickly fell asleep curled up next to each other, mother and daughter, as Lexi ate for the first time. It was as though they were in a bubble and the scary people who wanted to hurt them didn't exist. As if Buffy was just a normal new mother enjoying the comfort of her new child's heartbeat against her own._

  
_Without a moment's notice Buffy sat up, startled. Her Slayer's senses—extraordinarily enhanced by her maternal instincts and out-of-wack hormones—went into hyper-drive and her blood felt as if it were boiling with fear and anticipation. Adrenaline rushed through her veins._

  
_Everything was quiet. Alexis was still asleep; blissfully ignorant of the danger that threatened her. Buffy didn't move. She scanned the room from where she sat. Every corner, every knook, every cranny._

  
_There was nothing . . . but her senses were still on high alert._

  
_She did the only thing she knew. She jumped up, packed what little she had, pulled on her shoes, collected Lexi . . . and left._

  
_She stalked the streets, her senses going in full force but finding nothing as the cause. She held Lexi close to her chest, turning into an alley._   
_“Slayer, slayer, slayer . . .”_

  
_The voice made Buffy's skin crawl. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her heart pounded, and the Slayer/maternal instincts blazed like fire._

  
_“You know that every time you run away . . . you just hurt yourself more,” Lilah Morgan followed her operatives, her high heels click-clacking on the stone street. The operatives were all armed with their guns pointed right at Buffy. Of course they weren't bullets, Buffy knew Lilah better than that. Lilah's bosses needed Buffy alive and if she was delivered any other way it would be Lilah's ass. So no, those weren't bullets. They were tranquilizer darts._

  
_“Shouldn't you be more worried about how a severely pregnant little girl slipped out of your grasp—again?” Buffy taunted. It was her favorite way to torture Lilah—despite the pain they caused Buffy herself._

  
_“Not so pregnant anymore, are we?” Lilah gestured to the bundle in the Slayer's arms._

  
_“I managed,” Buffy backed up._

  
_“I see that,” Lilah chuckled, pointing to the blood dripping to the ground and the large blood-stain on the clothes Buffy was wearing. True, she'd been bleeding for awhile but she didn't have the time to worry about it. She had to get Lexi somewhere safe. “It won't be much longer before you pass out from blood loss.” The evil lawyer shook her head. “Is that how you planned to raise your daughter? Dead?”_

  
_“You don't talk about my daughter,” Buffy snarled. Momma-slayer was in full force._

  
_“Yes, well . . .” Lilah sighed, “You're just lucky you didn't hurt either of you.” She waved her hand to the operatives. “Go. Get them. I want both of them *alive*.”_

  
_“Yes m'am,” The lead operative signaled his men to life. Buffy backed up away from them. “Targets alive.”_

  
_The operatives circled Buffy, their guns still aimed. There was no where to go. The world was beginning to become blurry. The Slayer tried to shake away the dizziness . . . but soon she succumbed to the darkness . . ._

 

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

  
Buffy sat up, surveying her surroundings. It wasn't like any room she'd ever been in at Wolfram & Hart. It certainly wasn't any of the dingy motels she'd stayed in while in Los Angeles. It had a hotel sort of feel. There was a room off of the room she was in, with a little kitchenette area; stove, refrigerator, sink.

  
Wait, were those chains attached to her wrist?

  
Where was she?

  
This better not be another one of Lilah's tricks. She'd been through enough of those. One time she woke up in an apartment with a guy sitting in a chair beside her. He said he found her on the side of the road unconscious and brought her back to his apartment. Well...he turned out to be another one of Lilah's lackey's doing her bidding. Then once at a diner she worked at an elderly couple told her they'd noticed her and how she seemed so lonely. They invited her to stay at their house . . . which also turned out to be a trap. They weren't an elderly couple at all they were two demons in disguise.  
Both times ended her back at Wolfram & Hart under Lilah's clutches. Both times resulted in a fierce mystical beating. They said it wasn't physical so it wouldn't hurt the baby but it sure felt real.

  
But no . . . this time felt different. The tension isn't in the air, like usual. This time . . . it's comfort she feels.

  
“You're awake.”

  
The voice, despite how small and quiet, startles her and she jumps.

  
“I didn't mean to scare you,” the voice said. A woman appeared on the floor from behind the chair. “It's just you were making some awful noises in your sleep. Scary stuff, huh? The nightmares get me too . . . Sometimes you wake up and it feels so real that you just want to curl up like a baby and go back to sleep but then you remember that that's where the nightmare came from in the first place.”

  
Buffy didn't quite know what to make of this small, mousy woman. She was all skin and bones-much like Buffy-but her hair was a shade of brown instead of blonde.

  
“Oh, I should probably introduce myself,” the woman stood up, walking tentatively toward the bed. “I'm sorry that was so rude of me.” She looked up, laughing. “I sometimes forget these things. It's been so long since I actually had to put manners into practice.”

  
“Are you okay?” Buffy raised her eyebrow.

  
“M-me?” The woman laughed again, a not-so-stealthly snort erupting from her nose. “I'm, um, good. Great.” Somehow Buffy didn't really believe her. “What about you? You were just asleep for a long, long time and you had us all so worried! We didn't know if you were going to wake up . . . and the noises! They really sounded worse than any nightmare I've ever had.” In a way, the woman kind of reminded Buffy of a cross between Willow and Dawn.

  
“I'm fine, thank you,” Buffy said. “Except . . . I don't really remember how I got here or where here is. And my daughter . . .” She still wasn't sure if this was a trap or not but the sooner she held Lexi in her arms the better.

  
“Right, you probably want to see her,” The woman nodded. She started to cross toward the attached room. “I'm Fred, by the way.”

  
“Fred,” Buffy repeated.

  
Fred nodded. “Yeah. Well, Winifred but that sounds so stuffy. So . . . Fred.”

  
“I'm Buffy,” The Slayer told her.

  
“I know,” Fred disappeared in the other room, only to return a few moments later with a bundle in her arms. ”Here you go, here's Lexi.” Buffy looked up. How did this Fred know her daughter's name? “Your nightmares.” Fred said, as if to explain. Buffy nodded. She'd probably yelled out Lexi's name in her sleep.

  
The Slayer held out her chained arms as Fred put Lexi in her arms. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her daughter's heartbeat against her chest.

  
“She's put all of us through the ringer,” Fred's accent was really thick just then. “It's like she knew that there was something wrong with you.”

  
“All of us?” Buffy asked.

  
“You don't remember coming here, do you,” Fred observed. Buffy shook her head. She really didn't. The last thing she remembered was running away from Lilah and the running into a green demon. Things were kind of fuzzy after that. “You came here with Lexie. Then you passed out. We brought you up here. Or actually it's more accurate to say he brought you up here.”

  
“He . . .” Buffy was confused.

  
“Angel,” Fred replied. There must have been a look in Buffy's eyes because then Fred disappeared out of the room.

  
And just like that she remembered. She thought the green demon was attacking her. She went to the Oracles. They told her the demon was good. They told her to go to Angel, that he would protect her. And when she got to Angel's all of what had happened to her just hit her at once and everything stopped. Her body stopped . . . and she rested.

  
Now she was awake, refreshed, and ready to protect Lexi again.

  
“You're awake.”

  
She hadn't even heard the door open or anything. But then again, that wasn't really surprising.

  
Angel practically flew across the room, sitting on the bed beside her and holding her in his arms.

  
_To Be Continued . . ._


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:   
  
“Angel?” Buffy's voice was still groggy. She hadn't slept that hard since before she left Sunnydale. Actually, since before she died.

  
“It's okay, you're okay,” Angel was still holding her in his arms.

  
“I'm fine,” She found control of her limbs, trying to push him away, but the chains kinda made that hard.

  
“Right,” Angel cleared his throat, standing up. He backed away from the bed.

  
She looked down. “Um, Angel . . .”

  
He looked down as well, “Oh yeah.” He pulled a key out of his pocket, sitting beside her on the bed. She held out her arms, Lexi cooing softly in her sleep.

  
The moment their skin touched there was a spark, an electrical current that shot through her entire body. As Angel opened the locks on the chains on her hands and feet, images filled Buffy's head and she knew what the Oracles had meant. She didn't let Angel know anything was different though. She needed time to sort this all through.

  
“There you go,” The chains dropped to the floor with a clank. “Sorry about that. We had to. Thought you might hurt yourself.”

  
“Thanks,” Buffy's voice was small.

  
“For what?” Angel stood up again.

  
“Pretty much everything,” Buffy shrugged, “I-” She stopped unsure how to phrase this.

  
“What happened?” Angel's voice turned from comfort to slight accusation, “How did you get involved with Wolfram & Hart?”

  
Her slayer senses recognized the change, backing her child away from him, “You did not just say that.”

  
He rolled his eyes, “Buffy, calm down. I just want to know what happened. The last time I talked to you everything was fine. You were still in Sunnydale.”

  
She relaxed a little, like a snake ready to pounce at a second's notice. Her voice was soft, but still strong. “They want my daughter.”

  
“Wolfram & Hart wants your daughter,” Angel said.

  
“Yes,” Buffy took a deep breath, “I've been fighting them since before Lexi was born, trying to stay out of their custody long enough to get somewhere safe.” She paused, wincing at the memories. “But they always find me.”

  
“Until now,” Angel observed.

  
“Yeah, well,” Buffy stroked Lexi's hair.

  
And then the question she knew was coming. “Why didn't you come to me earlier?”

  
She thought about what she could tell him. The truth? What even was the truth? She didn't remember any more.

  
“Angel!” A voice shouted from downstairs.

  
Angel turned to Buffy. “I'll be right back. Just stay there, you still need your rest.” With that he left the room.

  
Two seconds later Buffy's maternal slayer senses kicked in, just like the night in the hotel when Lexi was born.

  
She could hear voices from downstairs; Angel, that girl Fred from before, Cordelia, Wesley? . . . and three others she didn't recognize. They all sounded panicked, unsure of what to do.

  
Bang!

  
Her attention was drawn to another noise heard downstairs. The sound repeated over and over again. She jumped out of the bed, Lexi close, and followed the noises downstairs. People matching the voices she's heard—including a boy, a man, and a green-looking demon—scattered around the lobby she'd first stepped into when she got there.

  
She didn't wait for them to say anything. “What the hell is going on?”

  
“Buffy, what are you doing out of bed?” Cordelia came up to her, checking to see that she was okay. “Do you want me to take Lexi?”

  
Buffy held Lexi closer, a little freaked out by a very different acting Cordelia Chase than the one she knew. “No, I'm fine. Just tell me what's going on.”

  
“We'd love to,” the demon said, “As soon as we know ourselves.”

  
“Birds,” Fred said softly, “Birds against the windows.” Buffy raised her eyebrows.

  
The boy Buffy didn't know nodded, “They just came out of nowhere.”

  
Phones started ringing. Buffy jumped. Angel looked around. “Guys?” They all—minus Fred and the boy—nodded, rushing behind the large counter. Buffy started breathing heavily. The slayer in her told her to go on the offensive and find out what was wrong. The mother in her wanted to crawl into a ball with Lexi and become a human shield. The conflict was just too much and her legs turned to jelly. “Whoa . . .” Angel was by her side in a second and guided her to the couch. She sat down.

  
“Angel Investigations, we help the helpless . . .” Angel's people were talking on the phones.

  
“Rats?” The man she didn't know was saying into the phone, “Coming out of the sewer pipes?”

  
“Yes, we've seen the birds,” Cordelia nodded as she talked into her phone.

  
“No, we didn't feel any earthquakes,” Wesley shook his head, “Where did you say you were again? West Hollywood?” He wrote something down on a piece of paper.

  
“Calm down, sugarplum,” The demon said into the phone, “We'll do everything we can, okay? Just hold tight.”

  
Another phone rang and Angel went to go answer it. “Angel Inv--You're inside Wolfram & Hart?” Everyone in room focused on him. “Whoa, slow down. Just tell me what's happening. A big rock demon—got it. We're on our way.” He put down the phone. “Wes, Gunn, weapons. The Beast is at Wolfram & Hart.” Wesley and the man Buffy guessed to be Gunn nodded. They were at a cabinet grabbing large weapons within moments.

  
“I'm coming too,” The boy announced, making his way to the cabinet as well.

  
“No,” Angel immediately shot down. “Too dangerous.”

  
“I can help,” The boy said.

  
“No, Connor. Stay here and help,” Moments later Angel, Gunn, and Wesley were out the door. The boy—Connor—watched them leave. Buffy could see pain and anger on his face. She watched him sulk upstairs like a child. She stared back and forth between the stairs and the door.

  
“Wait a minute . . .” She said aloud. Didn't Angel have a son named Connor? B-But he was only supposed to be like a year old . . .  
What the . . .

  
~*~

  
“So what's the plan?” Gunn whispered as the three followed a sewer tunnel around a corner.

  
“We fight,” Angel spoke. “Maybe make sense out of all of this.”

  
“Whatever we do, let's do it fast,” Wesley said.

  
“Agreed,” Angel turned another corner, climbing up a metal ladder.

  
~*~

  
“You okay Buffy?”

  
Cordelia's words shocked Buffy out of her trance. She shook her head. Angel and the others had been gone for over an hour and she still hadn't really reacted to everything that was going on. The boy hadn't even come down at all since Angel and the others left and the green demon went upstairs too—claiming he needed some kind of alcoholic drink called a sea breeze. He hadn't been down either. “I'm fine.” She told Cordelia even though she wasn't any where near it.

  
“Okay,” Buffy could tell by the tone in Cordelia's voice that the brunette didn't believe that she was okay. Neither pressed the issue and Buffy was glad for that.

  
“They've been gone for a really long time,” Fred said from the floor where she was playing with Lexi. “I sure hope they're okay.”

  
“I'm sure they're fine,” Cordelia said. “Or actually I'm hoping their fine but trying to hide this horrible feeling of dread in my gut.”

  
Buffy knew how Cordelia felt. There really hadn't been a moment since she'd crawled her way out of her own grave that she hadn't had that same feeling; the feeling that everything was about to fall apart and would stay that way forever.

  
She still had that feeling. The Oracles said that Angel would be the sanctuary she was searching for and it seems they were right. If she were by herself right now things would be seriously worse. Lexi would be in danger—and not just from Lilah and Wolfram & Hart.

  
“We've got a problem.”

  
The three women turned to the door where Angel, Wesley, and Gunn stumbled in. All three were covered in cuts, bruises, and blood. Gunn had a slight limp and was held up by Angel as they walked in. Wesley too looked worse for the wear and was helping someone in—Lilah Morgan. The evil lawyer held her stomach, blood visibly soaking through her clothes. It had been Angel who spoke.

  
“Damn right we've got a problem,” Cordelia stepped forward in front of Buffy, Fred, and Lexi. “What's that bitch doing here?”

  
“I'm the only bitch left,” Lilah, always with a sarcastic comeback, answered.

  
“She's right,” Wesley helped her sit down on the couch. “Wolfram & Hart is no more.”

  
“The Beast?” Fred stood up. As soon as Lilah had walked in Buffy's instincts took over and she now held Lexi closer to her chest and gradually backed up.

  
“It took everyone out,” Gunn said. “We wouldn't have made it out except for Lilah knowing a secret tunnel.”

  
“You should have left her there,” Anger, resentment, and payback dripped from Buffy's words, covering Lexi's head with her hands.

  
“She has information we need,” Angel dropped a stack of files on the counter.

  
“Otherwise we woulda left her ass there,” Gunn said.

  
“So what exactly happened,” Cordelia put her hands on her hips.

  
“The Beast already started when we got there,” Wesley said.

  
“We believe it was looking for the files,” Angel said.

  
“The rock demon has a brain?” Cordelia scoffed.

  
“Worse; the Beast has a plan,” Angel said.

  
“Not to mention an an accomplice,” Lilah said.

  
“What!?” Cordelia and Buffy shouted at the same time. Lexi started to fuss and Buffy rocked her up and down.

  
“We heard the Beast communicating telepathically with someone,” Wesley told them, “They were talking about a ritual. No specifics. But it did mention something else.”

  
Buffy, Cordelia, and Fred waited for him to finish.

  
Angel picked it up instead. “Whoever or whatever the Beast was communicating with—it knows us. They said something about 'the answer is among you'.”

  
“What does that mean?” Cordelia said. Fred shrugged. Wesley, Gunn, and Lilah didn't seem to have any idea either.

  
“Wait a minute,” Buffy said.

  
“What?” They all said.

  
“When I went to the Oracles after your green demon friend attacked me they told me to come here. They said I would find sanctuary here, and to follow my heart.” Buffy told them. She rocked Lexi up and down. “They also said 'beware, the answer is among you.'”

  
“I don't get it,” Cordelia said. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

  
“It means that one of us knows more than they're letting on,” Gunn said.  
Everyone looked around at the other, suspicion in their eyes.

  
“You're back,” Lorne came down the stairs, his words slightly slurred from one to many sea breezes. His dilated eyes fixed on Lilah and widened. Not long after Connor slumped down the stairs. He saw Lilah and sneered, immediately going on the defensive.

  
Everyone else was still reeling from the fact that one of them was a traitor. They too were extremely suspicious of Lilah but glances were exchanged between all of them, the same words going through their minds:

  
**The answer is among you.**

_To Be Contined . . ._

 


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

  
“Hello?” Dawn's voice spoke through the phone.

  
Buffy was still for a moment, only the sound of breathing going through the phone.

  
“Hello? Is someone there?” Dawn said.

  
Buffy clicked the prepaid phone off, throwing it on the bedside table next to her. Beside her on the bed, Lexi lay awake, chewing on a stuffed dog. The days after Wolfram & Hart had been put in the ground were tense, to say the least. Everyone was distrustful of each other but they all agreed to distrust and despise Lilah—except Wesley who was conflicted about all of it.

  
Buffy mostly kept to herself in her room. She played with Lexi and took care of her, enjoying the feeling of not being hunted by evil lawyers. Once Wolfram & Hart had been squashed by the Beast, they no longer pursued Buffy.

  
The blonde Slayer despised Lilah and avoided her at all costs. Occasionally Angel would come up into her room, asking how she was, was Lexi okay, did they have enough to eat. Sometimes he played with Lexi and it still surprised Buffy how well he was with her.

  
As for the rest of the people in the hotel, she didn't have much contact with them. To be honest she didn't know any of them (okay she once knew Wesley and Cordelia but a lot could change in four years) and din't know who to trust and not to trust.

  
She'd even skipped the research parties though Angel told her they were getting at some sort of headway. They'd found something about a prophecy that they thought might have something to do with what was going on . . . but they weren't sure yet.

  
It was pretty hard to do research though when you suspected that one of the people researching with you would stab you in your sleep.  
Her slayer senses suddenly perked up and she recognized his footsteps before he even reached the stairs. She stood up, taking Lexi in her arms and going toward the door.

  
There was a knock on the door. “Buffy, can I—” She opened the door. Angel's mouth was still open. “--come in . . .”

  
“Hi,” She spoke quietly, holding Lexi close to her heart.

  
“Hi,” His voice was as quiet as hers.

  
She stepped aside, allowing him to walk inside the room ahead of her. She closed the door, going back to sit on the bed. Angel sat beside her. She bounced Lexi gently up and down in her arms. The baby cooed contently in her sleep.

  
“Any luck down there?” Buffy asked, her focus still on her daughter.

  
“Not much,” Angel shrugged, “Gunn and I went around town, going after demons who know who might know something.”

  
“No dice?” Buffy guessed.

  
“Well, we did already know that the Beast is planning something. Or, actually, its Master is planning something and using their right hand rock to do the dirty work.” Angel said. Buffy nodded. “One demon we talked to mentioned something about a son or sun we're not really sure which he was talking about.”

  
“What do you mean?” Buffy said.

  
“We don't really know,” Angel told her. “We're not even confident about how valid his information was anyway."

  
“Oh,” Buffy deflated, sighing.

  
“Yeah,” Angel said. He watched her watch Lexi, an expresson of thought in her features. “What's on your mind?”

  
She looked down, using a smile to cover her thoughts. “Nothing.”

  
“Is everything okay?” Angel said.

  
“I'm fine,” She insisted, hoping he'd back off about it.

  
“You'd tell me otherwise?” Angel said. She looked up.

  
“Promise,” Buffy nodded. She looked out the window, noticing that it was now dark out. “Hey, could you take Lexi for a little bit? I just want to go out for a bit, flex my muscles. You know, keep the Slayer in me sane and in supply of fresh monsters to fight.”

  
“Sure,” Angel nodded. “I can definitely do that.” She handed Lexi over to him.

  
Buffy started packing her Slayer's bag—which she'd somehow managed to keep track of even through all the times with Wolfram & Hart.

  
Angel held Lexi, watching her get ready to go. “You will be careful, right?” His voice was low, barely above a whisper.

  
“Angel,” She pulled on her shoes, tying her hair back in a ponytail.

  
“You won't do anything stupid like, say, run or get yourself killed.” The way he looked at her—correction, through her—sent a chill down her spine.  
“I'm not some psycho head case who's going to run off the first chance I get okay? Been there done that. I'm not Faith either. I didn't murder anyone and you can stop treating me like a ticking time bomb.”

  
Angel sighed, nodding. “No. But you've been through a tough time.”

  
“You know better than that,” She countered. “You know me better than that.”

  
“I really don't anymore,” Angel said. “The Buffy I knew would never leave her sister and friends behind because there was something she didn't know how to handle.” She stepped back, hurt by his words. “Why did you leave Sunnydale?”

  
“I don't know,” She mumbled. “I don't know why. Because I did, okay? The strip turned pink and the only thing that felt like the right thing to do was go. So . . . I did.” She said. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  
He didn't answer. She sighed, slinging her bag on her shoulder and left.

  
~*~

  
Connor watched from afar as Buffy left the courtyard of the Hyperion, a duffel bag at her side. She was dressed to kill—literally—in sweats, tennis shoes, and an over-sized shirt. An outfit like that let enemies and other hunters alike know that you mean business and intend to get dirty doing it.  
Intrigued by her attitude—especially since she'd been cooped up in her room since awaking—he waited a bit before following her down the street. He stayed back far enough so she wouldn't know he was there but close enough so he wouldn't lose her.

  
She ended up leading him to the cemetery. It seemed to add up from all that Holtz had taught him about the Slayer. They hunt at night, especially in cemeteries and other burial grounds. It all added up so far.

  
He was just about to enter the cemetery after her when he realized he couldn't sense her anymore. He searched the cemetery for an hour . . . but she was just gone.

  
Where'd she go?

  
~*~

  
Buffy caught on as soon as she left the hotel. She give Angel one thing: Connor was more like his father than either of them realized. As soon as Connor started following her, she could sense him just as she could always sense Angel. Once she was aware of this, she did all she could to lead him one place and lose him. The cemetery seemed an appropriate place to do this.

  
All so she could reach her real destination: the post office. Or rather, below it. It was time to have another chat with the Powers That Be.

  
The celestial “oracles” didn't appear to be ass willing or happy to have another chat with the Slayer.

  
“Slayer . . .” the word echoed as soon as she stepped foot in the cave.

  
“Well a big hell to you too,” Buffy replied.

  
“The Powers that Be do not wish to be pestered with your questions, Slayer.” The two-voices-in-one reprimanded her.

  
“I don't exactly get my jollies being a hired help—without the money part, mind you—for a bunch of god-like whatevers who sit on their non-corporeal asses and let humanity do the work either.” Buffy said. “But here I am. So . . . I will ask my question and you, you's, whatever will patch me through. Got it?”

  
There was silence for a good long while before he/she boomed out an answer. “As you wish.”

  
“Great,” Buffy sighed. “Now that we're best buds we can get down to business.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now, what the fuck is the deal with this rock demon? Oh, and it'd be nice to know who spent their thirty pieces of silver to betray the good guys.”

  
“We are not permitted to answer,” The two voices spoke.

  
“Let me translate: The Powers have no idea,” Buffy rolled her eyes. “Wonderful. What can you tell me?”

  
“The vampire with the sould and his people are searching in the right place,” They said. “However they will need your help.”

  
“What am I supposed to do? I've never been research girl, even in Sunnydale.” She said.

  
“Your involvement in crucial,” They said. “You must help them and watch over your daughter. Her death will mean great suffering for all.”

  
“Wait, what?” Buffy tensed.

  
“That is all, Slayer. Keep watch. Protect your daughter.” They said. There was a supernatural shifting in the atmosphere and Buffy knew they were gone

  
“Why is Lexi important?” She shouted.

  
But there was no answer.

  
_To Be Continued . . ._


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...this is as far as I've got posted. Don't have much more written but hopefully in due time that'll change. I'm not one to abandon fics completely, it just sometimes takes a long time between updates.

Chapter Nine:

  
“Any luck?” Angel asked his friends as he walked down the stairs with Lexi.

  
“We found reference to that prophecy again,” Fred told him. “The one about the son/sun. We're still not sure which but we definitely think we're on the right track.”

  
“Good,” Angel nodded, descending the last stair. Lexi cooed in her sleep.

  
“Buffy actually coming out of her shell?” Gunn said, noticing the baby.

  
“No, actually,” Angel said. “She went out. Asked me to watch Lexi.”

  
“Out where?” Cordelia questioned, raising her eyebrows.

  
“Patrollng,” Angel simply said. The others shrugged. Cordelia sighed.  
“No, she's not.”

  
Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, Wesley, and Fred turned to follow the voice. Connor came in through the double doors.

  
“Yes, she is,” Angel said. “She wanted to go blow of some steam and asked me to watch Lexi.”

  
“She's not at any cemetery in the city,” Connor told them.

  
“You were tracking her,” Angel observed.

  
“And we're what, surprised by this?” Cordelia said. The others shrugged.

  
“Where else would she go, without Lexi,” Wesley said.

  
“Her friends?” Fred suggested.

  
“No,” Angel shook his head. “She wouldn't leave the ciy without Lexi.”

  
“So . . . what's blondie hiding?” Gunn said it. The room tensed.

  
Fred tentatively raised her hand, her voice small. “I was actually thinking the same thing.”

  
“All this freaky stuff started around the time she showed up,” Gunn nodded.

  
“Freaky stuff?” Angel repeated.

  
“The Beast, the birds,” Fred said.

  
“She's a Slayer,” Angel said.

  
“Has everyone forgotten the phrase 'rogue slayer'?” Cordelia said. “'Cause I sure haven't.” She fingered the long-faded bruise on her cheek.

  
“I sure haven't either,” Wesley sighed. “I don't, however, believe that Buffy is involved in anything.”

  
“Buffy isn't involved with any of this,” Angel's voice suddenly became very low . . . serious. “She a victim here.”

  
“Seem to me she can handle herself,” Gunn shrugged. “Slayer's got that super-strength don't they?”

  
“Yes, but—”

  
“She has been off on her own,” Fred said.

  
“Doing god knows what,” Cordelia said.

  
“I can't believe I'm hearing this,” Angel said.

  
“She hasn't been out of the hotel since she got here,” Wesley said.

  
“That we know of.” Gunn said.

“Connor did say that she wasn't where she said she was going to be.” Fred pointed out.

  
“Perhaps she stopped for something to eat,” Wesley said.

  
Angel solemnly shook his head. “I watched her get ready and she didn't take any money.”

  
“See?” Gunn said.

  
“But that still doesn't mean anything,” Angel insisted.

  
“Blondie is definitely up to something,” Gunn said.

  
“You wanna take that back?”

  
All but Angel jumped at the voice of the blonde as she appeared from the back of the room.

  
“How'd you get in?” Cordelia said. “You obviously didn't come through the front door.”

  
“Basement,” Buffy said. “Sewer.” She dropped her bag, coming up to stand next to Angel who still held Lexi. “Heard some voices out front figured sneaking would be a better option. Seems I was right.” She crossed her arms, held her ground.

  
“How did you know I was following you?” Connor said.

  
She shrugged. “You are your father's son. I always knew when he was nearby. Guess he passed it on to you.” She turned to the others. “Anything I should know about?”

  
“Just thinkin' 's all.” Gunn said. His body was and had been tense since Buffy came in the room.

 

“The words 'the answer is among you' come to mind,” Cordelia said. “If you weren't patrolling in the cemetery than where were you.” Buffy's eyes darkened with anger. “Makin' out with your friend Mr. Rock Face.”

  
“Some things never change, Cordelia,” Buffy sighed. “You still mouth off about things you don't understand.”

  
“At least I'm not running around like I've got a big secret.” Cordelia said.

  
“Yeah,” Gunn said. “Like where were you, Slayer.”

  
Angel was being surprisingly quiet through all of this. Buffy still stood at his side but she stepped forward in front of Lexi. “I don't have to answer to any of you.” Buffy said. “I'm not your enemy and you better think twice before I decide otherwise.”

  
Angel handed Lexi over to Buffy and stepped in front of the Slayer. “You're out of line.” He was speaking to Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred and they knew it.

  
Buffy stepped back around Angel holding Lexi on her hip. “You wanna know where I was? The Oracles. You know, the closest path to the Powers That Be you can get. I wanted answers, okay? They usually have them.” She just stared at all of them. “They told me to come here in the first place but ya know, it just doesn't feel that safe anymore.”

  
“You went to the Oracles?” Wesley said.

  
“Yep,” Buffy sighed, “They told me there was sanctuary here. They said that the answer is among you . . . but there's safety here.”

  
“The Powers want you here,” Angel said.

  
Buffy nodded. “Tonight when I went to see the Oracles they said that I have to help you . . . and that my 'involvement is crucial.' Whatever that means.”

  
“That still doesn't explain why you lied about where you were going,” Cordelia said.

  
“We're in the middle of a war here,” Buffy said. “A war that could potentially escalate to an apocalypse.”

  
“There is no time for this,” Wesley said.

  
“Wesley's right,” Angel said. “Pulling us apart is exactly what the Beast wants. We have to stick together if we want to win this.”

  
Cordelia and Buffy just glared at each other. Connor and Gunn joined in too.

  
Wesley sighed, “It's going to be a long night.”

  
~*~

  
Later after everyone fell asleep and Angel was out looking for information Buffy left Lexi in Fred's care and made her way down to the basement of the hotel.

  
“Never thought it would be you visiting my jail cell.”

  
Buffy descended the stairs, the heels of her boots clanking on the old wood. “I never thought I'd be hiding out from a big rock demon in the same hotel as you.”

  
Lilah smirked. “Touché." The brunette lawyer was tied to a chair inside of a locked box-shaped jail-like cell that Angel constructed himself.

  
Buffy sat down on a chair about three feet away from the steel box “Seems a little familiar, doesn't it?” Buffy said. “Except this time it's you tied up and not me.”

  
“I bet you're loving this,” Lilah said. As usual, she was playing the 'I'm cool' card to hide her fear. Buffy, however, could see right through it.

  
“Not constantly on the run? Fully rested and fed? You betcha.” Buffy smiled. “Now that your entire building is dead . . . I'm free.”

  
“You think the Senior Partners will stop just because the Los Angeles building is gone?” Lilah sat up straight. “You should know better than that, all the time you spent with us.”

  
“I know, I know,” Buffy nodded. “Wolfram & Hart has buildings all over the world.” The Slayer leaned forward. “Way I figure though is that the Beast desecrating all its L.A. Employees was a major set back. They haven't sent anyone after me or you . . . so I think I'm good for now.”

  
Lilah didn't say anything. Buffy didn't let her victory show. Lilah just looked to the ground.

  
“I have been thinking, though, that the reason your bosses wanted me and why the Beast is here . . . are the same thing.” Buffy said.

  
“This is why you came down here? A jam research session? What makes you think I'll cooperate.” Lilah said. “I'm sure any one of Angel's people would be much more willing to chat that I am.”

  
Buffy shrugged. “I don't trust them.”

  
“And we're such good buddies,” Lilah laughed.

  
“I know what to expect with you,” Buffy shrugged again. “Besides, I think you know more than you're letting on.”

  
“Buffy?”

  
They both heard crying from upstairs. Lilah smirked.

  
“Buffy, Lexi's cryin' and I can't get her to stop.” It was Fred.

  
“Coming!” Buffy shouted. Buffy stood up. “We will have another chat soon.” She left Lilah smirking, going back upstairs to relieve Fred of Lexi's crying.

_To Be Continued . . ._


End file.
